Fall 2014: Tap Your Spring 

 

Water brings the gift of life. Without it, our blue-green planet would not be... er... blue-green. We come from the water. We descended as water from the womb. We are more liquid than solid. We follow the water. Our survival is dependent on our relationship with water and its sources.

I used to be a river guide. Whitewater is rated on a 6 level classification scale (1 is a few ripples and 6 is certain death). Classification varies depending on the amount of water that is flowing. Increased volume does not always mean increased difficulty. Sometimes the hazards wash over with a lot of water and no longer propose much difficulty at all. Sometimes less water exposes more obstacles and makes certain rapids more technical and difficult. The skill of effectively applying one's knowledge to whitewater navigation is the key and this skill is also the yoga.  

 

In Southern California, we are feeling the effects of our long-term lack of water very acutely. Our culture hides the cracked and scarred earth with green lawns and swimming pools, but I am constantly reminded to conserve and appreciate.

It's ironic, but as the liquid makeup of our planet shifts into an era of "too much water," we are faced with not only heavier floods, but more intense droughts. The new normal is a world of weather polarity. The earth is literally generating more heat as our atmosphere pulls itself into a new alignment of contradiction. With such forces at work, notions of harmony and balance seem increasingly oxymoronic. It's a world of too much and a world of not enough. It's a world that swings in lightening flashes from drought to flood and back to drought again.  

 

In my life, this metaphor is very alive.  Tracy and I are pacing our way through a long drought, while simultaneously dog paddling around in the relentlessly rising floodwater of YOGAMAZ�'s fast-paced growth. We have long suffered insufficient resources...not enough time, not enough Noah and not enough Tracy, and now, despite the drought, we are attempting to sufficiently manage a virtual monsoon of organizational development, an abundance of interest in our vision, and exponential spikes in virtually every aspect of our business.  I am not complaining.  These are welcome problems-- and yet they are still problems. Without proper catchment systems, something precious is likely to be lost.   We are thus vigorously hard at work detailing and putting into place a vast network of integrated flood (and drought) management systems. My biggest work in this season of polarities is to be more proactive and measured, and less a victim of this quick-fire environment.    

Whether the rivers are flowing and abundant, and irrespective of whether the streams are drying up, we each have an inner wellspring, always present.  HOW I tap this spring, WHEN I tap this spring, IF I tap this spring, and of course how best to ensure feasibility and viability...these questions are of great interest to me.     

 

At work, we have been articulating multiple arms of curriculum within the YOGAMAZ� school, and in the meaningful differences of styles and levels of classes. There is a trend in contemporary American postural yoga to reduce classes to mixed-level and to try to fit everything and everyone into one class. I'm pushing back against this current, with the passion of an educator and life-long student and lover of adventure and measurable progress.  

 

Our YOGAMAZ� Studio in Los Angeles is FINALLY opening up for weekly classes. This has been a project long and careful in the making. A reservoir of creative energy has been building and patiently waiting to be released. Beginning October 15, we will be offering a schedule of 15 classes weekly. We are in excellent company with a roster of amazing and talented teachers all of whom have studied and collaborated with me over many years. I will be teaching twice on Wednesday mornings, travel schedule permitting.  

 

Douglas Brooks is again gracing us with his wisdom and raise-the-bar style of teaching October 10-12. We will open the flood gates and drink from the fire hydrant! The topic: Bhagavad Gita.

 

Teacher Trainings have been at high-water. I am deeply honored and humbled to have guided so many journeys of learning. In October, our current intermediate training class will culminate a year of intense study. November will see the graduation of our current level one teacher training class, here in town. Meanwhile, students of our introductory training have graduated in Riyadh and Bali, and are soon graduating in Jakarta, Indonesia. Introductory trainings are also in various stages of Fall launching in Flagstaff, Seattle, Riyadh and Portland. If you are called to the path of service, to the path of sharing what you love, join us! Our graduates have inspired me repeatedly with their dedication and commitment to yoga, their studentship and their chosen teaching paths.

 

I am ever prouder of our incredible group of Apprentices and our YOGAMAZ� EmissariesRocky Heron recently brought his unique approach to YOGAMAZ� to Japan.  Check out our blog and read Rocky's account of this magical time. Also check out the video below about Rocky and the school.  Nichol Chase, an anchor and ever smiling face on our time has been developing a creative and relevant curriculum called Yoga for Performers, which is open to the public and happening in November.  We are so thrilled to finally be working alongside our YOGAMAZ� Apprentice and long time dedicated student, Steffany Vance. Steffany is one on an incredible list of Studio Teachers.  Catch her class at 9am on Saturdays.  There is no end to what I can say here about so many in our community.  However, I am aware that your patience may be finite, so we'll leave it there for now.  Check in with our Website to see more or if you want the full rundown.

Introduction to YOGAMAZ� Emissary, Rocky Heron
Introduction to YOGAMAZ� Emissary, Rocky Heron

 

My beloved Tracy and I will offer a 4 session online course, Yogi Business.  Tracy is a treasure chest of experience and wisdom in the business realm.  She has long kept quiet, and has worked tirelessly - happy for me to be in the front of the room.  This is yet another initiative that has long been on hold, swirling around in eddies, and gathering more and more depth.  So join me in welcoming Tracy into the seat of a YOGAMAZ� teacher, and don't miss the program - it's full of worthwhile content.  

 

The kids are thriving. Madeline has courageously embraced Kindergarten and all it has to offer. I am proud and grateful beyond words to watch her spirit and confidence continue to unfold. She is a pure and sensitive soul, and a gift to this world. She loves art, swims like a fish and her teachers report that she plays, and shows a high level of care and sensitivity to everyone in her class. This weekend, when I was in Cleveland, she asked her mother, "Mommy, did Daddy travel safely?"

Oliver has started Nursery School and has transitioned very smoothly. He is naturally athletic, eternally mischievous and loves the color blue. He sweeps our back patio and skims the pool every day. He too is swimming like a pro. The other day when his mother called him a "little fishie," he didn't skip a beat before matter of factly admonishing "I'm not a fishie, I'm a SHARK!" Followed by chomping gesture. Tracy says he has my sense of humor. Apparently that's a good thing?

 

Tracy continues to be our goddess of manifestation.  Overworked, overstressed and under-rested.  I have begun practicing appreciation rituals for my bride.  She is the glue that holds us all together.  Not just my family, but our community of the heart.  She embodies the finest qualities of the heroines.  She is the champion of my family, my home, my life.

Me...well... I travel, teach, write curriculum, play with my kids and ride my bike when I can.  In yoga, water and bodies of water are a common metaphor for awakening and consciousness.  Fitting then that my best way into my life's current is via my practice of yoga. In practice as in life, I am sometimes held or carried in the current.  Those moments of being held in flow are meaningful and fleeting.  Sometimes I swim, empowered.  Sometimes I swim against and across the current, pushing back to avoid the real dangers and obstacles I am about to slam into.  Sometimes, in the gift of a moment, I feel no difference between myself and the current.  Those moments are rare.  In the meantime, I am dedicated to resisting the overwhelm of flood and drought. I am focused on tapping my spring with measured and efficient precision.  Sometimes I succeed.  Sometimes I fail.  When the water levels stabilize, I hope to be home more on Sundays.  I will make green juice again every day.  I will spend time alone every now and then with my incredible wife. I will cook and bake and take the kids rock climbing and camping.

Earth's balance is tenuous. The strain on her resources taxes all.  Our ability in a moment, a day or a season to hold our individual lives in stead, is likewise uncertain.  To survive, we call upon both strength and dexterity.  Like a good vinyasa practice, we tightly hold to the midline, while simultaneously attempting to flow easefully among and between opposing forces.  The spectrum ever wider as the pace moves ever faster. To thrive, we find our inner sources, and tap our inner Wellsprings.  It's not easy.  The water moves around.  Sometimes there is little to drink when you arrive tired and thirsty.  Sometimes it's time to build catchments for overflow.

 

Just after Madeleine was born Tracy and I endowed her with a spiritual name, which translates : "Water."  

 

In 2008, I wrote this blessing for my sweet daughter, and today I share it with you:

 

May you flow through the obstacles and challenges and joys of life with graceful ease, as the flowing waters find the pathways of least resistance. May you transmute and transform between different states and phases, solid to liquid to ethereal, but ever true to your essence. May you know when to be strong and unwavering, when to bend and flow, and when to expand sublime. May you be ever attuned to your own authentic nature, as the waters attune to the phases of the moon. May you revel at the peaks of the waves - at the pinnacles experiences of life's ecstatic possibilities - when the view is clear and expansive. May you savor the bottom of the waves, deep in the forest of feelings and thoughts, in the woven complexities. May you ever inspire us with your infinite expanse of living possibility.

 

Life is an ocean of infinite possibility.   

  

Tap your Spring.   

Saprema, Noah 

 

 




Excellent Resources for Continuing Education: 

Therapeutics: with Naime Jezzeny
Yoga of Celebration: with Sianna Sherman
Love is Stronger Than Fear: with Desiree Rumbaugh 

 





FALL 2014
















ON THE ROAD 


Jakarta 300  
TEACHING TEACHERS 
October 1-6 
MORE INFO 

 

 

    

Jackson, MS

Butterfly Yoga 

October 17-19

MORE INFO

 

 

   

Silver Spring, MD

Willow Street Yoga  

October 24-26

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

Rocky Heron  

Ketchum, ID

Gather Yoga Studio

October 24-26

MORE INFO   




Del Mar, CA  
Yoga Del Mar 
 November 1-2  

 

 

 

Rocky Heron

Galapagos Retreat

November 1-8

MORE INFO   

   

 

 

Portland, OR   

November 21-23

MORE INFO 

   

     

 

Squaw Valley, CA  

Wanderlust Yoga   

 December 5-7

MORE INFO

 

 

 

Minneapolis, MN   

December 12-14

MORE INFO  

        

 

 

Rocky Heron

Jamaica Retreat

Dec 27-Jan 3

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

Montreal, Canada  

Moksha Yoga 

January 9-11  

 MORE INFO 

 

 

 

Rocky Heron

Bermuda

January 9-11

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

Dubai, UAE

Zen Yoga 

January 23-25   

  MORE INFO   

 

 

 

Berlin, Germany
Yoga Circle Berlin
Jan 28-Feb 1
MORE INFO     


 
Rocky Heron
Portland, OR
Yoga Pearl
February 6-9

San Francisco, CA 

Yoga Tree Castro 

February 7-8 

MORE INFO 

   

 

 

Chicago, IL 

Yoga  View

TRAINING INTENSIVE

February 17-22

MORE INFO  

 

 

 

Flagstaff, AZ

The Yoga Experience

March 6-8

 

 

 

 Malaysia

Fitness First 

March 17-23

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

Jakarta 300

TRAINING TEACHERS 

March 24-29

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

Bali Spirit Festival

March 31-April 5

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

 Seattle, WA

April 10-12

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

Miami, FL

April 24-26

MORE INFO

 

 

 

Cancun, Mexico

April 28-May 3

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

Minneapolis, MN

Yoga Center of Minneapolis

June 12-14

MORE INFO 

 

 

 

YOGAMAZ�  L.A.

 

 

YOGAMAZ� 200TT
LOS ANGELES

 

 

 

  

YOGAMAZ� 300TT 
LOS ANGELES
October 10-15 - Mod 6 


     
PHILOSOPHY   
& ASANA
Noah &
Douglas Brooks
October 10-12




YOGA FOR PERFORMERS
Nichol Chase
November 1-2
YOGAMAZ� 300TT
STARTS IN NOVEMBER
November 11-16
January 13-18
March 10-15
May 19-24
July 28-August 2
September 15-20




NEW YEAR'S ASANA INTENSIVE
January 2-4



YOGAMAZ� 200TT
Los Angeles 
STARTS IN JANUARY
Rocky Heron
&
Nichol Chase  
January 24-25
February 21-22
March 21-22
April 25-26
May 30-31
June 27-28
July 25-26
August 22-23
September 26-27
October 24-25
November 21-22
December 12-13
  

YOGAMAZ� 200TT
Los Angeles
STARTS IN FEBRUARY
February 10-15
April 14-19
June 16-21
August 11-16




PHILOSOPHY & ASANA 2015
Noah & 
Douglas Brooks
May 22-31






YOGAMAZ� TT WORLDWIDE
 

 YOGAMAZ� 200
Jakarta
Module 4 
October 2-5 
 YOGAMAZ�  300
 October 1-5
More dates TBD
   


 Oct 10-12
Nov 7-9
Dec 12-14



Online NOW:
Fire, Nectar 
& Flow
with Sianna & Noah 
IN PROGRESS 
October 9
October 16
October 23 



YOGAMAZ� 200
Seattle
IN PROGRESS
October 24-26
November 14-16
December 12-14
January 9-11
January 30-February 1
February 27-March 1
March 27-29
April 8-12
May 8-10 
YOGAMAZ� 200 
RIYADH 
STARTS IN OCTOBER
Oct 11-Dec  20
January 9-February 8

 

      

Online  

THIS MONTH:  

Yoga of the Yoga Business
STARTS IN OCTOBER

October 21  & 22

October 28 & 29 

MORE INFO

 

    

 

YOGAMAZ� 200 

Portland

STARTS IN NOVEMBER

November 17-23

January 19-25, 2015

March 2-8, 2015 

MORE INFO 

REGISTER  

 

      

 
   
YOGAMAZ� 200
Flagstaff
see phase 1 dates & 
January 15-19
February 20-22
March 6-8 (with Noah)
April 10-12


YOGAMAZ� 200
Cancun
February 17-22
April 28-May 3
July 21-26
October 6-11
REGISTER



YOGAMAZ� 200
Bali
One Month Intensive
July 6-August 5

YOGAMAZ�

EMISSARIES  

  

 











































click below to take Noah's class online: